Italy have announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures and it has brought about a host of new faces. Some of them have been unexpected and others are raising eyebrows. One such case is that of Nurnberg’s Mo Ali Zona.

The 22-year-old striker has had a rather electrifying journey in the game already.

Born to an Ivorian mother and a father who hails from Burkina Faso, Ali Zona came through the AlbinoLeffe youth academy. In Italian football, he has never played beyond the Serie C, where he featured for as many as four campaigns.

Quickly enough as a teenager, he gained a reputation for being a regular goalscorer too. In 121 appearances for AlbinoLeffe, he found the net 29 times and racked up 21 assists, contributing to 21 goals in the 2024/25 season.

That was his at the Bergamo club as he had attracted interest from Nurnberg. Like another fellow future Azzurri teammate in Issa Doumbia, he too made the jump and his first campaign in the German second division saw him score 14 times and assist five times.

So far in the ongoing campaign, he has kept going, scoring five times in just as many games.

Attention on him has grown rather quickly too. In the summer, West Ham and Hull City came calling for Ali Zona. Nurnberg rejected their offers, also turning down approaches from Fiorentina.

Roberto Mancini sees him as a weapon who will be versatile in attack. He can play down the middle but has mainly become a left-sided attacker, who likes to cut inside. 

Italy have lacked players of that ilk since Federico Chiesa’s prominence reduced, considering Mattia Zacagni’s inconsistency. Ali Zona can add that unpredictable nature to attack, especially as they want to move away from the 3-5-2 and look towards using a 4-3-3 more often.